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Worth knowing: The Hermitage is a Grade II listed estate with origins stretching back more than 500 years, arranged around a historic stone courtyard.
By the numbers: Approximately three acres of gardens, pasture and woodland surround a four-bedroom farmhouse, four converted barn cottages and two further detached cottages.
The big picture: Surviving features include a historic stone icehouse and courtyard well, alongside barns and outbuildings that reflect the estate’s former working life.
Where Five Centuries of History Live On
There are country houses that have been built to look old, and then there are places where history is simply part of the fabric.
Hidden at the end of a private driveway, beyond the noise and pace of modern life, The Hermitage is one of the latter.
Set within approximately three acres of gardens, pasture and woodland, this remarkable Grade II listed estate has origins stretching back more than 500 years. At its heart lies a historic stone courtyard, a quietly atmospheric collection of buildings whose arrangement speaks of another age, when a country estate was a self-contained world of homes, working buildings, storage, livestock and gardens.
Today, the property remains remarkably intact.
Step into the courtyard and there is an immediate sense that the past has not been erased here. It has been carefully carried forward.
A Courtyard Written in Stone
The story of The Hermitage begins with its buildings.
Formed around the central courtyard, the estate has evolved over centuries, with traditional stone structures creating an architectural composition that feels both intimate and substantial. Each building contributes to the story: cottages, barns, outbuildings and the principal farmhouse gathered together in a way that is increasingly rare.
The stonework, proportions and historic details give the courtyard a timeless quality. It is easy to imagine the generations who have passed through these buildings, and the changing rhythms of rural life that have shaped the estate.
Among its most evocative reminders of the past is the historic stone icehouse.
Long before modern refrigeration, an icehouse was an essential part of a well-established country property, allowing ice gathered during winter to be stored and used throughout the warmer months. At The Hermitage, this rare surviving structure offers a tangible connection to that period of country-house life.
There is also the historic courtyard well, believed to date back centuries. Today, it stands as another fascinating reminder of the estate's former life and offers the potential for restoration.
These are not decorative historical references. They are remnants of the infrastructure that once sustained the property, quiet survivors from another chapter of its story.
A Farmhouse With Its Own Story
At the centre of the estate stands the principal farmhouse.
Its character is immediately apparent. Exposed beams, mullioned windows, original stonework and a substantial inglenook fireplace create the atmosphere of a house that has accumulated character rather than having it applied.
The sitting room, with its impressive fireplace, is particularly evocative, a room that naturally invites thoughts of winter evenings, glowing fires and generations gathered together.
Elsewhere, the historic fabric sits comfortably alongside modern living. A bespoke breakfast kitchen forms the contemporary heart of the home, while a formal dining room, study or snug and practical ancillary rooms provide the flexibility expected of a modern country house.
Four double bedrooms occupy the first floor, three with en-suite shower rooms, alongside a family bathroom.
Above them, the attic rooms reveal another layer of possibility. Spacious and adaptable, they could become bedrooms, offices, studios or creative spaces, allowing the next owners to write their own chapter into the history of the house.
A Landscape That Remembers
Beyond the courtyard, the grounds unfold gradually.
Terraces and lawns provide more formal garden spaces before the landscape becomes increasingly natural, extending into meadow, woodland and paddock grazing.
There is a feeling of privacy here, but also of continuity. The gardens are not simply a backdrop to the house; they form part of the estate's story.
One can imagine the property through the seasons: summer afternoons on the terraces, autumn colour moving through the woodland, winter light falling across the old stone buildings and spring returning to the surrounding pasture.
The historic icehouse and courtyard well add intrigue, encouraging curiosity about what the estate may once have looked like and how it functioned centuries ago.
Beyond the Farmhouse
The Hermitage's story becomes even more unusual when the wider collection of buildings is explored.
Within the converted Grade II listed barn are four individual cottages, while Hermitage Lodge provides a detached stone cottage and Ruelow Cottage offers a further detached stone residence.
Two substantial barns and additional outbuildings complete the collection.
Together, these buildings create something approaching a private hamlet, a series of spaces connected by history yet capable of serving very different purposes today.
For one family, they could provide an extraordinary multi-generational arrangement. For others, they could offer guest accommodation, workspace, creative studios or the foundations of a lifestyle enterprise, subject to the necessary consents.
The remarkable thing is that the flexibility does not diminish the character.
The historic courtyard remains the unifying heart of it all.
A Place Between Past and Future
There is something increasingly precious about a property that has survived long enough to acquire a genuine sense of identity.
The Hermitage is not pristine in the sense of being untouched. Instead, its appeal lies in the fact that it has evolved.
Five centuries of history have left their mark in the stone, the courtyard, the well, the icehouse, the barns and the farmhouse itself. Yet the estate remains capable of adapting once again.
That is perhaps its greatest attraction.
The next owner will not simply be buying a house. They will become the latest custodian of a place that has already witnessed generations of country life, and will have the rare opportunity to decide what its next chapter looks like.
The Next Chapter
In a world of new-build country houses and carefully manufactured character, The Hermitage offers something that cannot be reproduced.
Authenticity.
Its history is not a feature added to the brochure. It is beneath your feet in the courtyard, in the old stonework, behind the mullioned windows and within the surviving structures that once supported life on the estate.
Beyond the private driveway, behind its walls and within its three acres, The Hermitage feels wonderfully removed from the present day.
And yet it is ready for the future.
For the right custodian, this is the opportunity to do more than own a remarkable historic property.
It is the opportunity to continue its story.
View The Hermitage property listing on Yopa
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